* [[http://www.orble.com/7yr-old-dies-protecting-his-sister/ Zhenya Tabakov]], a 7-year-old boy, who died while protecting his 12-year-old sister from a rapist.* A group Heroic Sacrifice -- [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome United Flight 93]] on [[TearJerker September 11th]]. After learning that three other planes had been used as weapons against thousands, [[BadAssBystander passengers]] [[YouShallNotPass assaulted their hijackers]], [[TakingYouWithMe knowing it would probably lead to their deaths]]. [[EverybodyDies It did]], but [[BittersweetEnding countless lives were saved]] at wherever the intended target site was (according to captured al-Qaeda members, it was most likely the U.S. Capitol). Various cell phone calls to loved ones indicate that [[DeathIsTheOnlyOption the passengers knew exactly what they were doing and there was no chance of surviving.]]* [[BadassBookworm Prof. Liviu Librescu.]] During the Virginia Tech massacre, [[YouShallNotPass he held the door of his classroom shut]], allowing most of his students to escape. [[MadeOfIron He was shot through the door five times]] before finally succumbing to a shot to the head.** This man survived [[FinalSolution the Holocaust]]. He wasn't about to go down easily.* {{Termite|s}} soldiers will go out of their mound in the event of a breach to hold off the enemy (usually ants) while the workers rebuild. Sealing the soldiers out.* The Port Arthur Massacre had more than one sadly failed attempts. Nanette Patricia Mikac knelt down before Martin Bryant, the shooter, to die whilst asking him, simply, to spare her two daughters [[DeathOfAChild (unsuccessfully)]]. Carolyn Loughton threw herself on top of her daughter, but while she survived, her daughter did not. Brigid Cook began an impromptu evacuation of the site and whilst shot, survived. Neville Quin was shot in the neck and survived trying to reach his wife.** The murders of Mikac and her daughters caused people to rush to the toll booth entrance and warn visitors in their cars to flee, as they knew [[WouldHurtAChild Bryant would drive up the hill to shoot their children]]. A few of these people did not survive, but their warnings saved countless lives.* Colonel UsefulNotes/YuriGagarin died on March 27, 1968 when the MiG-15 he was piloting crashed near Moscow. He could have ejected safely from his failing craft, but chose to fly on past that point, because if he had ejected, the plane would have landed on a village killing everyone there.** Previously, Gagarin had tried to save his friend Vladimir Komarov's life by pulling one of these. The Soyuz 1 spacecraft was a poorly designed and completely doomed piece of junk that was only going to be launched due to pressure from the Politburo, and Gagarin knew it. Komarov was going to be the pilot, and Gagarin was his backup. Gagarin tried to use his clout to cancel the launch, and when that was unsuccessful, he tried to take Komarov's place. But the Politburo refused to allow a national hero on a flight they knew would not be two-way, and Komarov went up as planned. Almost every system on the craft began to fail almost immediately, and the mission was aborted. Unfortunately, the ship caught fire during re-entry and both the main parachute and reserve parachute failed to deploy properly, so Komarov hit the Earth without slowing down and was killed on impact.%%* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falling_on_a_grenade Falling on a grenade]].* Practically every posthumous recipient of the Medal of Honor or similar awards.** The living recipients generally qualify too. A lot them say that they fully expected to die.* Subverted, if the story behind the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Burghers_of_Calais "Burghers of Calais" sculpture]] is to be believed: the six noblemen of the town who offered themselves in exchange for the town's safety ended up alive after it all, and the statue depicts them as not so much "heroic" as defeated and weary, but conscious of duty.* Flower, veteran matriarch of ''Meerkat Manor'''s Whiskers clan, embraced this trope when she went MamaBear on a den-invading cobra, and got bitten on the face defending her pups.** Her son Shakespeare as well. First, he gets bitten on the jaw and thigh driving off a puff adder, then later, he has the misfortune of being the lone babysitter for his mother's pups when a rival pack comes calling. No-one's actually sure what happened, but the pups survived and Shakespeare was never seen again.* First Lieutenant [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_R._Fox John Robert Fox]] called fire on his own position on December 26 1944 in a successful attempt to stall a German advance. His body was located in a counter-attack the next day, along with those of around 100 German soldiers.** Echoing this action in March 2016, Russian Special Forces officer [[http://sputniknews.com/russia/20160329/1037166120/russian-hero-palmyra-named-father.html Alexander Prokhorenko]], who was embedded in Syria providing artillery intelligence on strategic Daesh locations, was discovered and surrounded. He [[https://www.funker530.com/airstrike-transcript-russian-operatives-last-words/ repeatedly ordered]] his superiors to target his position so that he would "die with dignity" and take them with him.* The [[GonzoJournalism journalist]] and writer Creator/RodolfoWalsh was killed during the [[UsefulNotes/NationalReorganizationProcess last Argentinian military dictatorship]] a day after his exceptionally cunning '''Carta Abierta A La Junta Militar''' in a trap that he was aware of: Another victim of political persecution called him for help, and he, awared of the dangers of going out his refuge in the Tigre Islands, chose to go out nonetheless. He couldn't live with his conciousness in case that the call was real. He even was MadeOfIron, as he died fighting for a long time with the para-military forces, and stand his ground with many shots in the chest, until he was shot down, DefiantToTheEnd.* Captain [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Oates Lawrence Oates]], member of the Terra Nova Expedition (and expedition to the South Pole). While returning from the center of the South Pole with another three people (they were five but one died) his condition started to get worse due to frostbite and scurvy, slowing the others. He realized that due to him slowing them down the others wouldn't be able to survive. So, he asked them to [[GoOnWithoutMe leave him behind]]; when they [[NoOneGetsLeftBehind refused]], he said ''"I'm just going outside and may be some time"'', he put his boots and walked out of his tent into a -40 °C blizzard.* Marian Fisher, age 13, the oldest of ten girls taken hostage in the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amish_school_shooting Amish school shooting]] in 2006: [[http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/story?id=2531138 "Shoot me first"]]* [[http://www.theage.com.au/world/philippine-man-loses-own-life-after-saving-dozens-from-floods-20090928-g8o4.html Philippine man loses own life after saving dozens from floods ]]* [[http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2006/mar/26/nuclear.russia Firefighters who responded to the 1986]] [[UsefulNotes/{{Chernobyl}} Chernobyl nuclear disaster]], many of whom realized they were exposing themselves to lethal levels of radiation and condemning themselves to painful deaths by rushing in to extinguish the burning reactor but did so anyway.** The liquidators as well, soldiers and volunteers who took part in the cleanup operations to evacuate the nearby areas and to help stop the spread of the radiation. If it wasn't for them the disaster would have been far far worse. And let us be clear about this: some of these men were collecting highly radioactive graphite lumps with their ''bare hands''.** For some of the firemen, specifically those from No. 1 precinct, this is a subversion: they ''weren't'' told of the danger, leading to some picking up lumps of graphite moderator ejected from the reactor and in so doing ensuring they would have only weeks to live. Three men, led by fire Lieutenant Volodymyr Pravik, actually climbed onto the roof of the reactor hall, and, though they managed to lead hoses into the chamber, were never seen again. ** During the disaster, radioactive material fell into the bubbler pools that served as cooling reservoirs for the reactor, resulting in the water becoming hot and leading to fears of another steam explosion. The pools had to be drained, but due to the loss of electrical power, the sluice gates had to be opened manually. Engineers Alexei Ananenko, Boris Baranov, and Valeriy Bezpalov volunteered to go into the irradiated and near boiling water, wearing diving suits (which could bear the temperature but offered about as much radiation resistance as a mankini) and open the gates. Did we mention -- due to the loss of power, the water was ''pitch-black'' and their only light failed. Despite being weighed down by their enormous balls, they managed to open the gate. They returned to the surface and died within hours of radiation poisoning, as they knew they would.* While driving home with his pregnant wife, [[http://www.theprovince.com/news/North+final+saves+family/3487150/story.html Brian Wood]] noticed that a car was crossing the center line and heading straight for them. With no time to avoid a crash, Brian swerved to the right [[TakingTheBullet so that he would take the full force of the collision]], [[BabiesEverAfter saving his wife and unborn child.]]** The depressing thing about this is the reason the other car was out of control. ''[[TooDumbToLive The driver was trying to take her sweater off without stopping]]''.* Ryan Arnold saved his older brother Chad Arnold's life by giving him his liver for a transplant, but died shortly after the surgery was [[http://www.nbcnews.com/id/40094048/ns/health-health_care/t/brothers-transplant-gift-carries-unbearable-cost/ completed]].%%* [[http://earthquakestrips.blogspot.com/2008/06/strip-2-boy-who-lived.html This]] and [[http://earthquakestrips.blogspot.com/2008/06/strip-8-last-lesson.html this]], from the Sichuan Earthquake* [[http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20110113/twl-teen-hero-drowns-after-brother-saved-3fd0ae9.html 'Teen Hero' Drowns After Brother Saved First]]* [[http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/nypd-officer-dies-helping-save-seven-family-members-150111140.html NYPD Officer Arthur Kasprzak]] dies after saving seven family members from rising flood waters in his house after the devastation of Hurricane Sandy. * When the Halifax Explosion of 1917 was about to erupt, train dispatcher [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vince_Coleman_%28train_dispatcher%29 Vince Coleman]] had an opportunity to flee, but remembered that a train was due in town any minute. He stayed at his post and transmitted the following telegraph: "Hold up the train. Ammunition ship afire in harbor making for Pier 6 and will explode. Guess this will be my last message. Good-bye boys." Coleman was killed at his post, while the trains involved stopped a safe distance away from the explosion, saving hundreds of lives. What's more, the message was communicated throughout the rail network, allowing other dispatchers to immediately respond, rerouting traffic and sending relief supplies.* [[http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_17423843?source=rss Glenn Allen]], a devoted firefighter is killed in the line of duty trying to save the home of two residents, [[TearJerker and only days before his first grandchild was born.]]* [[http://www.aolnews.com/2011/03/06/louisiana-mom-jalisa-granger-dies-protecting-baby-from-tornado/ Jalisa Granger]], a young mother who died sheltering her baby during a tornado.* [[http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110527/us_yblog_thelookout/husband-gave-life-to-save-wife-from-tornado-he-was-my-hero Don Lansaw]] jumps on top of his wife Bethany to protect her from a tornado and saves her life, but sadly dies in the process.* Compared to Chernobyl, the [[http://gizmodo.com/#!5782440/50-fukushima-heroes-work-on-as-radiation-levels-soar Fukushima 50]] are (hopefully) an [[AvertedTrope aversion]]. They are carefully being rotated to limit their total exposure to within international safety standards for emergency workers (with only a handful of cases where those have been marginally exceeded by accident), and thus far nobody is believed to have received any genuinely dangerous doses. [[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16212057 The generators have now stablised]], though cleanup is still needed.** In fairness, the Chernobyl disaster was, of course, far worse ('''massively''' higher levels of radiation, inferior or lacking safety equipment and procedures, much less transparency). Certainly a CrowningMomentOfAwesome for the 50, but it likely won't turn out to be a HeroicSacrifice.** As a corollary: all of the old people [[http://mb.melmyfinger.com/post/6131047852 who willingly line up to clean radiation in Fukishima]] qualify as [[BadassGrandpa badass grandpas]] [[NeverMessWithGranny or grannies]], exposing themselves to radiation so younger people won't have to. The highest levels involved may result in an increased risk of cancer from twenty to forty years in the future, so they figure they don't have as much to lose.* Following the March 11, 2011 earthquake, [[http://mainichi.jp/select/weathernews/news/20110314k0000m040103000c.html Miki Endo]], a young Crisis Management worker in Minami Sanriku near Sendai, broadcasted a tsunami warning and was credited with saving the lives of nearly 7,000 people in her town. In recently salvaged recordings from the broadcast, her co-workers can be heard pleading with her to evacuate as the tsunami approached. But she stayed at the mic, warning people to flee until the more-than-ten-meter wave crushed the building she was broadcasting from. ** Fujio Koshita, at 57 the senior Otsuchi firefighter, died standing on top of the firehouse ringing the old warning bell, because the March 11th earthquake killed all electrical power in the town. His bell was heard ringing through the town until the tsunami swept him, and the firehouse, away. According to other firefighters, he violated his own rule about rescue workers; “Don’t die. Rescuers must stay alive because your job is to help other people.* Arland Williams, the "sixth passenger" of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Florida_Flight_90 Air Florida Flight 90]]. When the plane crashed in the icy Potomac River, he and five other survivors scrambled to the tail section of the destroyed aircraft. Twice he was tossed a lifeline from a helicopter. Twice he handed it off to others more severely injured than himself. When the chopper returned again he had slipped below the surface, the only victim to die by drowning. Notably, Williams had a lifelong fear of water, making it even more awesome.* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Chaplains Four Chaplains]] on a crowded World War II troop ship. When it was torpedoed, the chaplains handed out life jackets to the men who made it onto the deck. When the life jackets ran out, they gave away their own.* Erwin Rommel, famed German Field Marshall, was condemned to death for his involvement in the July 20th plot against Adolf Hitler. The new 'blood guilt' (Sippenhaft) law meant that his family would have been punished as well. Rather than be executed as a traitor, Rommel accepted Hitler's offer of suicide and took a cyanide pill. His family was spared, and today Rommel is remembered for his civil conduct in warfare and willingness to help overthrow Hitler.* Everybody on the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tablets_on_the_Memorial_to_Heroic_Self_Sacrifice Memorial to Heroic Self Sacrifice]] tablet in Postman's Park, London.* On July 27, 2008, a man opened fire with a shotgun at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, because he disagreed with their beliefs. A church member named Greg [=McKendry=] deliberately took blasts from the shotgun to protect other church members, and died as a result.* On May 24 2008, Film/HarryPotter actor Robert Knox saved his younger brother from a deranged knife wielder at a pub, losing his life in the process.* John Luther "Casey" Jones, a railroad engineer from Jackson, Tennessee, died in a train crash on a foggy, rainy night in 1900. He had ordered his friend, specifically, to "Jump, Sim, jump!". With his friend off of the train, Casey bravely controlled the engine to minimize impact, saving the lives of all of the passengers on board... except for Casey himself.** In a less known event of Casey's heroism, he personally climbed onto the cowcatcher of the train, ''while it was moving'', to reach out and save a child who was immobilized by fear on the tracks.* [[http://news.yahoo.com/a-family-remembers--hero-of-9-11-gave-life-to-save-thousands.html Richard "Rick" Rescorla]] saved over 2500 people by leading them to safety during the 9-11 attack, and died in the process.** By extension, all of the firefighters and policemen who stayed in/near the World Trade Center in an attempt to evacuate as many people as possible.*** Perhaps exemplified best by firefighter [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orio_Palmer Orio Palmer]], who raced all the way up to the 78th floor (the impact zone) of the South Tower.** John P. O'Neill, the FBI Officer who had led the investigation into Al-Qaeda after the USS ''Cole'' bombing and then got a job at the WTC went back into the building (after helping evacuate the daycare centre) to help anyone still alive. He was never seen again. * Michael Monsoor, US Navy SEAL; a grenade landed on a roof where he was part of an overlook. He jumped on it and sacrificed his life, taking the brunt of the blast and keeping the shrapnel from hitting any of his friends. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.* A mother in Springfield, Massachusetts, saved her young daughter by shielding her with her body while a tornado destroyed their home. [[http://www.wpri.com/dpp/news/massachusetts/springfield-mother-killed-in-tornado-saves-daughter]]* A shooting between gangs occurs near an elementary school with innocents caught in the crossfire. A mother [[http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/vigil-held-for-slain-brooklyn-mom-20111023-gjw shielded her daughter from the gunfire and lost her life protecting her child.]]* Everyone's heard about the band on the ''Titanic'', but fewer people remember her engineering crew. The ship's engineers remained at their posts until the end, keeping the engines running as long as they could so that the lights would stay on and stave off panic. None of them survived the disaster.** They quite possibly did more than keep the lights on. Questions have been raised about why the ship, unlike almost every other large vessel that's suffered damage on one side of the hull, didn't capsize. It's been suggested that the engineers kept working the trim tanks and pumps until all power was lost to keep the ship upright and allow the lifeboats to be launched from both sides. Since, as mentioned, none survived, we'll never know.*** Let's not forget the people who gave up their own seats on the lifeboats. These people gave up their chance at survival to help strangers or to make sure that someone they loved who couldn't get a seat wouldn't die alone.* When the RMS ''Lusitania'' was torpedoed and sank in 1915, wealthy businessman Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt gave up his life jacket to a woman with a baby, and was last seen buckling her into it. He did this knowing that he could not swim and would surely die. * Kirsty [=MacColl=] was on holiday in Mexico with her family, diving in an area that was supposed to be off limits to boats, when a speeding powerboat appeared heading straight for her son. She managed to push him out of the way in time for him to suffer only minor injuries, but she herself was struck and killed instantly.* Kansas City Chiefs running back [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Delaney Joe Delaney]] dove into a lake despite his own inexperince in swimming to save three drowning children. Sadly, not only did Delaney lose his life in the process, but only one of the three children survived.* [[http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/man-paralyzed-diving-creek-save-girl-235043884.html Michael Patterson]] jumped into a creek to save a four year old girl who had fallen in. He saved the girl, but was paralyzed from the chest down from the injuries he sustained while saving her.* A couple of [[HeroicDog canine examples]] of this trope; [[http://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/15220504 George]], a Jack Russell in New Zealand who was killed defending five kids from a pair of vicious pit bulls; and [[http://dogsinthenews.com/stories/070301a.php Chief]], a pit bull in the Philippines who sustained a fatal bite protecting two women from a cobra.** [[http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/dog-killed-while-saving-owner-train-190740869.html Also this story]] about a dog who saved his suicidal owner's life by moving him off of some train tracks when his owner collapsed and passed out as a train was coming by. The owner was fortunate and quickly taken to the hospital but the dog sadly died when the train collided with him. This type of UndyingLoyalty is exactly ''why'' dogs are properly referred to as "Man's Best Friend".** In 1996, a dog named Chief [[http://www.cbsnews.com/news/doggy-dna-hounds-murderers/ attempted to save his owners, Raquel Rivera and Jay Johnson, during a home invasion]]. Unfortunately they were both killed, and Chief died of his wounds; but ironically, Chief's blood was found on the killers' clothing, and was part of the evidence used to convict them. ** Lucy the pit bull [[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/lucy-pit-bull-saves-lisa-potts-from-stabber_us_56781b49e4b06fa6887dde24 lost her life]] defending her owner's mother from a violent ex-boyfriend. Despite being stabbed in the neck, Lucy refused to stop fighting and succumbed to her wounds the next day.* U.S. Confederate soldier Calvin Crozier, who was headed back to his home in Texas at the end of the war, got into a scuffle with some aggressive Union soldiers in the town of Newberry, South Carolina. During the fight, he non-fatally cut one of them in the back of the neck, but the soldiers later claimed he murdered one of them and set out to arrest and execute him. Crozier was long gone, but found out that an innocent man had been arrested in his place. He returned to the town and turned himself in to save the other man's life, and was unlawfully executed by the soldiers.* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximilian_Kolbe Saint Maximilian Maria Kolbe]] was a Polish Catholic priest who first was a missionary and thus went WalkingTheEarth for years. During UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, this BadassPreacher was imprisoned in the Auschwitz concentration camp for openly speaking out against the Nazi regime through noth a newspaper and a private radio station, and sheltering (among others) 2,000 Jews. He willingly went into the hunger bunker in place of of another prisoner, a Polish woodworker who had a wife and kids; he continued to calmly celebrate Holy Mass in the cell for the other prisoners, and was finally killed by a fatal injection of phenol after all the other prisoners had already died of starvation. He was made a saint on October 10 1982 by Pope John Paul II, [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming and the man whose life he saved was there.]]* [[http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/aurora-shooting-died-bullets-sweeties-article-1.1119395#ixzz21TPAUdXi Three men died by shielding their girlfriends from gunfire]] during the Aurora theater shooting.* Similar to the Casey Jones and Yuri Gagarin examples above, [[http://host.madison.com/news/article_1d3826f8-2420-520e-89e8-e2d69b806a7d.html Gerald Stull]] stayed at the cockpit of his failing plane so that it would crash in the lake rather than the city of Monona, Wisconsin.* First grade schoolteacher Victoria Soto hid her students in her classroom's closet during the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre when she was confronted by the shooter and she told him by lying that her students were in the gym. She then threw her body in front of her students and as a result she was killed. She was twenty-seven years old.** It may be worth noting that, according to Wikipedia, Victoria Soto, along with five other employees, was posthumously awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal for "exemplary deeds or services performed for his or her country or fellow citizens." This award is the Second Highest civilian award in the United States, second only the Presidential Medal of Freedom and its military equivalent, the Medal of Honor.*** Another Sandy Hook example: The school's principal died while charging the gunman in an attempt to stop him.* Spirit guitarist and frontman Randy California and his son got caught in a rip current while swimming in Hawaii in 1997. California pushed his son to safety, but was swept out to sea.* [[http://gma.yahoo.com/mom-succumbs-cancer-6-weeks-giving-birth-231713382.html Elizabeth Joice]] who was diagnosed with cancer in 2010 became pregnant last year and the cancer resurfaced during her pregnancy forcing her to choose between saving herself with treatment but endangering her unborn child, or going without treatment so her child would be unaffected while putting her own life at risk. [[MamaBear She chose to put her child's needs ahead of her own and successfully gave birth to her healthy baby girl Lily.]] [[DownerEnding Unfortunately, after her daughter was born, the cancer had spread all over her abdomen,]] [[TearJerker and she died six weeks after her daughter's birth.]] [[GoOutWithASmile She said that she had no regrets]] [[FaceDeathWithDignity as she would easily make the same choice again if she had to.]]** [[https://screen.yahoo.com/cute-and-inspiring/inland-empire-mother-makes-ultimate-012500439.html Ashley Bridges]] has a very similar story, as she was diagnosed with bone cancer a few weeks into her pregnancy and was told to get treatment before the cancer spread which would mean terminating her pregnancy. She refused and successfully gave birth to her daughter Paisley several months later, but by that time the cancer had already run its course and spread throughout her body. Even though the doctors gave her less than a year to live, she says she has absolutely no regrets about her decision.* William David "Dave" Sanders. On April 20, 1999, as Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold opened fire on their classmates at Columbine High School, Sanders took charge and kept a level head as he directed hundreds of panicked students to safety. He then ran through the hallways, securing classrooms. He was shot by Dylan Klebold and died four hours later from blood loss.* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicola_Calipari Nicola Calipari]], a high-ranking officer of the Italian Secret Services, in 2005. He had obtained the liberation of journalist Giuliana Sgrena from an Iraqi insurgent group and was taking her to Baghdad airport, when an American roadblock crew opened fire with on the Italians' car. By Sgrena's direct account, Calipari jumped in front of her and pinned her on the bottom of the car to shield her from the gunfire, dying in the process.* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gare_de_Lyon_rail_accident Gare de Lyon rail accident]], June 27, 1988 in France, André Tanguy, a French Train driver, alerted his passengers about a runaway train their way and ordered to them escaped. Tanguy alerted the station about the problems until he was killed along with 55 other people, but Tanguy's sacrifice spared others. Daniel Saulin, who was driving the runaway train, failed to tell the station of his name or the train before hitting the alarm system, which would've guide the train to an empty platform. In hopes of the chances of a future disasters are reduced, the French Railway was overhaulled the driver's training and radio system was upgraded.* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Slotin Louis Slotin]] became the second fatality the criticality accident to happen at Los Alamos, months after Harry K. Daghlian, Jr was killed from the same experiment with a plutonium core, which earned its demonic nickname. The Canadian born physicist and chemist was working for the United States’ Manhattan Project with a sphere type beryllium metal, as similar to the tungsten carbide Daghlian was working with when both accidently made contact with the core, creating a blue radioactive glow. Slotin quickly removed the beryllium with his hands and told the people in the same room as him to mark their location before going to get medical help for record keeping. Slotin received a fatal amount of radiation, which ultimately dying on May 30, 1946, but he recognized by the both his native Canada and the United States for his brave sacrifice and considered a hero for doing so.* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland_Elementary_School_shooting_(San_Diego) Cleveland Elementary School]] principal, Burton Wragg, heard gunshots and both he and Mike Suchar, a custodian, ran to save as many children as they could. Both men lost their lives and 8 children were hurt in the shooting done by Brenda Ann Spencer, who was 16-years old at the time, but had they not got there, more lives would’ve been lost.* In 1944, [[http://web.archive.org/web/20060704165450/http:/www.house.gov/sherman/press_room/press/pr_020501_medalofhonor.htm Ben L. Salomon]], an American dentist of Jewish background, was working to treat his patients at a field hospital in Saipan when a troop of Japanese soldiers invaded. When they started to kill people inside, Salomon decided to let the Japanese know that they messed with the wrong person and ordered every innocent person, both healthy and wounded, to leave as he stayed to [[TakingYouWithMe take out up to 100 enemy soldiers]] before [[DyingMomentOfAwesome dying of the injuries he got in the fight]].* [[http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-hiker-family-killed-a-colorado-family-20131001,0,64030.story This Colorado dad]] made sure at least one of his family members has a chance to survive... his teenage daughter!* [[http://news.yahoo.com/teen-dies-saving-classmates-suicide-bomber-223018543--abc-news-topstories.html Aitzaz Hasan]], a 14 year old, stopped a suicide bomber from entering his school and sacrificed his life to protect his fellow students.* Haim Smadar, a 55 year old security guard at a Jerusalem supermarket, was killed stopping a suicide bomber from entering the store. Unfortunately, a 17-year old teenager also died, but his actions undoubtedly prevented a larger loss of life.* W. S. Gilbert (the first half of Creator/GilbertAndSullivan) died while rescuing a drowning woman; she survived, but he (being 74 years old) suffered a heart attack from the strain.* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neerja_Bhanot Neerja Bhanot]], an Indian flight attendant, was the senior flight purser on Pan Am [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_Am_Flight_73 Flight 73]], a flight that was hijacked by terrorists. The terrorists ordered Neerja to collect all of the passengers' passports so that they could identify the Americans. Neerja and her fellow flight attendants hid all of the American's passports so that they could be spared. After the hijackers opened fire, Neerja helped passengers escape and lost her life shielding three children from a hail of bullets; not only were these children saved, so were the lives of hundreds of other passengers. For her heroics, Neerja became the youngest person to receive the esteemed [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashok_Chakra_Award Ashok Chakra Award]] (India's most prestigious gallantry award for bravery during peace time) and her parents set up a trust that presents two awards a year to worthy applicants.* Cornelius Johannes "Corrie" Sanders was a South African professional boxer. In 2003 he became the WBO heavyweight champion by defeating Wladimir Klitschko via a second-round knock out that is considered one of the biggest upsets in heavyweight boxing history and was named Ring Magazine upset of the year 2003. Corrie Sanders was fatally shot in an armed robbery at a restaurant on 22 September 2012. The shooting took place in Brits, where a function was being held for his nephew's 21st birthday. Sanders was wounded in the stomach. He was taken to hospital in Pretoria, where he died in the early hours of 23 September 2012 of his wounds. Corrie died diving to protect his daughter from oncoming bullets.* The Japanese Navy had an entire ''ship'' full of sacrifices. In WWII, the crew of the Japanese destroyer ''Akikaze'' detected a salvo of torpedoes racing towards the aircraft carrier ''Jun'yō'', which they were escorting. So what do they do in respond? They block the shots with ''[[TakingTheBullet their own ship]]'' which literally disintegrates in a massive explosion, creating a smokescreen that allowed the carrier to escape. The ''Akikaze'' was lost with all hands.* A person named Tyler Doohan rescued six of his relatives from a burning mobile home and died trying to save the seventh. His body was found next to his grandfather, who was disabled and thus couldn't get out on his own. Tyler was only [[KidHero 8 years old]].* The 9th and 12th Armies of the Wehrmacht during the Battle of Halbe, UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. High turnover during 1944 meant that only the mid-level and senior officers in those armies had actually committed War Crimes against enemy civilians and POW, and so most of the rank-and-file of those armies had actually only killed a small number (if any) of either. Two decimated Armies standing against far superior Soviet forces, these units held the line in the Battle of Halbe to provide a corridor for refugees across the Elbe so they could surrender to the US instead of the Soviets. The Soviets nominally had about 200,000 soldiers arrayed against the roughly 50,000 men of the 9th and 12th Armies, who believed they were keeping the maybe 160,000 civilian refugees from being exterminated (this was not actual policy, though in practice they would almost certainly have been robbed and some may even have been sexually assaulted by some of the Red Army's less-disciplined logistics troops). Specifically, the young General Walther Wencke was said to have eschewed his final orders from (now dead) German high command and instead ordered his men to create a corridor to allow wounded soldiers and civilians to escape. Witnesses said he was nearly the last one to cross the river. In the aftermath, 30 000 German soldiers were dead (and 10,000 civilians), 120,000 soldiers and civilians were captured by the Soviets, and over 30,000 Germans had managed to escape across Elbe with all their valuables to start a new life in The West. Walther Wencke was later taken prisoner and released in 1947 and ultimately died in a car crash in 1987. ** Sabaton even wrote [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uk2NeKBG5A a song]] about it.* From the Indochina Wars:** Lê Văn Tám allegedly doused himself with gasoline, set himself on fire, and ran into a guarded enemy warehouse containing fuels to destroy it. Although the veracity of the story has been doubted (mostly that the event was real, but the name was not), it's still a DyingMomentofAwesome. ** Phan Đình Giót flung himself in front of an arrowslit where French gunmen were firing out in the Điện Biên Phủ campaign so that his comrades can take the stronghold. ** Tô Vĩnh Diện and several other soldiers were in charge of hauling a cannon in the Điện Biên Phủ valley, for the battle of the same name. Due to the terrain, they lost their grip on the cannon and it slipped, careening dangerously out of control. Diện proceeded to let go and fling himself under the wheels of the cannon, slowing it down enough for the others to stop the cannon altogether. His last words were used to ask whether the cannon was alright. (Those cannons were actually crucial in winning the battle -- and the wars -- because the French were taken by surprise, as they thought the terrain would prove impossible for the Vietnamese to bring the cannons in and pull a BigDamnHeroes moment.)** Bế Văn Đàn volunteered his shoulders as mount for a machine gun, saying, "The enemy are in front of us. Comrade, if you value me, kill them all."* Jesús Garcia Corona, a Mexican railroad brakeman, was working on a train that had stopped in the town of Nacozari, Sonora on November 7th, 1907. When sparks from the train's firebox ignited the hay on a dynamite-filled car, Jesús got in the train and drove it six kilometers away before it exploded. He was the only casualty and has since been honored as a national hero. Nacozari was even renamed Naczari de García.* The destroyers and planes of US task force "Taffy 3" in the Battle off Samar definitely count. With the main bulk of Admiral Halsey's fleet off chasing a Japanese decoy fleet, the only things left to protect the six escort carriers of Taffy 3 were three destroyers and four destroyer escorts. As luck would have it, a Japanese center force consisting of ''4 battleships, eight cruisers, and '''eleven''' destroyers'' stumbled across the small group. To protect the vital escort carriers from the Japanese guns, the destroyers and destroyer escorts literally positioned themselves between the carriers and the Japanese, and closed in to point blank range of the massive ships to release torpedoes and rake their sides with cannon fire, since their smaller guns were ineffective for firing at range due to the Japanese armor thickness. In the air, the carriers' planes took off to attack the ships with everything they had, which included, according to Wiki/TheOtherWiki, strafing, bombing, rocketing, depth-charging, and at least one pilot ''drawing his revolver firing at the ship'' when he ran out of ammunition. Despite being severely outnumbered and outgunned, and losing two of their three destroyers along with two escort carriers, Taffy 3 fought with such ferocity that the Japanese fleet was forced to disengage, but not before one of the Japanese captains [[WorthyOpponent saluted]] the American sailors for their bravery.* Several examples from British Railways...** [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Gimbert Benjamin Gimbert]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Nightall James Nightall]]. On 2nd June 1944, the pair were driver and fireman on a train of bombs when the leading wagon caught fire as the train passed through Soham in Cambridgeshire. They uncoupled the wagon and drove the train forward as quickly as possible, reaching the station before the wagon exploded, killing Nightall and the signalman and severely injuring Gimbert. Had they not uncoupled the wagon, the whole train would have exploded and the town of Soham would most likely have been destroyed. Both men were awarded the George Cross for their bravery.** [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Axon John Axon]]. On 9 February 1957, he was driving a goods train from Buxton to Stockport. Near the summit at Dove Holes, a steam pipe burst, disabling the locomotive brake and whistle, rendering the crew unable to contact the banking engine to tell it to stop. Axon stayed with his engine as the train ran away downhill, trying to shut off steam and use the tender brake to stop. He was killed when the train crashed into the back of another freight train at Chapel-en-le-Frith, but due to his actions, the signalman at Dove Holes was able to warn the staff at Chapel-en-le-Frith to evacuate a passenger train that was waiting at the adjacent platform.* On January 26 2016, [[http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/26/us/indiana-school-bus/ Principal Susan Jordon]] of an elementary school near Indianapolis, Indiana, witnessed a bus suddenly jump the curb and was rolling at two of her students. She rushed and pushed them out of the way. While they did go to the hospital, their injuries were non-life-threatening. Principal Jordon, sadly, was fatally struck.* The Derbyshire village of Eyam, 1665. One of the villagers dies of the bubonic plague, most likely infected by fleas in a parcel of cloth sent from London, and other deaths soon follow. The people have had communication from London and know how the plague is tearing through the population there. They could abandon the village. They could bury their heads in the sand and go on with life as normal. They don't. Instead, by mutual agreement, they send away the unexposed children and then seal off the borders of the village, trading coins soaked in vinegar for food and supplies from other towns (left at certain agreed boundary spots). 14 months later, the outbreak was over but at least half the villagers were dead.* After a female Octopus lays her eggs, [[MamaBear she will stand guard over them for their entire 53-month-long incubation period.]] She won't even leave to find food and will instead resort to [[{{Autocannibalism}} eating one or more of her own arms.]] By the time they hatch, she's on the cusp of starvation.* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pietro_Micca Pietro Micca]], a Piedmontese soldier. In 1706, during the Siege of Turin, some French soldiers tried to get into the tunnel network that protected the citadel; Micca and a comrade barred a door in their faces, then Micca sent away his fellow soldier and lit a very short fuse near to a prepared charge to collapse the steps that led towards the citadel, before following him, well knowing that he likely couldn't get far enough to escape the shockwave or the resulting poisonous gases. He died, but the French soldiers were all killed or injured, and the citadel held until the siege was lifted.* Despite the knowledge that she was about to be subjected to a horrifically grisly fate, in her final moments, Xiang Liujuan, a 30-year-old mother [[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-33672037]] managed to push her child away to safety as the escalator panel beneath her collapsed.* On August 1, 2007, the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis collapsed, killing 13 people and injuring 145. One of those killed was Paul Eickstadt, a 51-year-old truck driver. How? Just as the roadway fell out, he swerved his truck to make room for a passing school bus, ensuring he wouldn't crash into it. Everyone on the bus, including 51 children, survived.